1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an installation/removal structure for a device for installing or removing devices, that are usable in an information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various types of personal computers, which include portable computers. Currently, so-called notebook-type personal computers, which are portable and are therefore convenient, are widely used. Hereinafter, a description will be given of prior art by using this type of personal computer as an example.
Various important devices such as a floppy disk drive device, a battery, and a hard disk drive device are manufactured as "packs" and are incorporated within such a personal computer. However, conventionally, it has been assumed that such devices would not be installed and removed by an ordinary user. Recently, as needs of users have changed, there has been a trend toward constructions in which such devices can be installed and removed as occasion demands, and how installation/removal structures for these devices should be constructed has become a matter of interest.
The following is a conceptual explanation of conventional installation/removal structures. The conventional structure is provided with an operating means that is operated by a user (e.g, a lever provided at an outer portion of the processing apparatus main body), and a fixing means which is composed of a plurality of parts and which is used for fixing the devices to the interior of the processing apparatus main body. When a device is installed in the interior of the processing apparatus main body, the device is inserted from an insertion opening. When the device is removed from the interior of the processing apparatus main body, the user operates the operating means so that the device is removed from the insertion opening.
When such operating means and fixing means are provided for each device that may be installed in and removed from a processing apparatus, space for the necessary elements of the respective means must be reserved for each of the devices, which is extremely difficult and complicates the structure. This is particularly undesirable in notebook-type personal computers whose most distinctive feature is the fact that they are thin and light weight.